ke up in a
few minutes quite unconscious of having really slept. We talked about
ten minutes, not lowering our voices particularly. Suddenly Mme.
Thiers opened her eyes, was wide awake at once--how quietly we must
have come in; she had only just closed her eyes for a moment, the
lights tired her, etc. Mlle. Dosne said the same thing, and then we
went on talking easily enough. Several more ladies came in, but only
two or three men. _They_ all remained in the farther room talking, or
rather listening, to M. Thiers. He was already a very old man, and
when he began to talk no one interrupted him; it was almost a
monologue. I went back several times to the Place St. Georges, but
took good care to go later, so that the ladies should have their nap
over. One of the young diplomat's wives had the same experience,
rather worse, for when the ladies woke up they didn't know her. She
was very shy, spent a wretched ten minutes before they woke, and was
too nervous to name herself. She was half crying when her husband came
to the rescue.

We left the next morning early, as W. had people coming to him in the
afternoon. I enjoyed my visit thoroughly, and told them afterward of
my misgivings and doubts as to how I should get along with strangers
for two or three days. I think they had rather the same feeling. They
were very old friends of my husband's, and though they received me
charmingly from the first, it brought a foreign and new element into
their circle.

* * * * *

Another interesting old chateau, most picturesque, with towers, moat,
and drawbridge, is Lorrey-le-Bocage, belonging to the Comte de S. It
stands very well, in a broad moat--the water clear and rippling and
finishing in a pretty little stream that runs off through the meadows.
The place is beautifully kept--gardens, lawns, courts, in perfect
order. It has no particular _historic_ interest for the family, having
been bought by the parents of the present owner.

I was there, the first time, in very hot weather, the 14th of July
(the French National fete commemorating the fall of the Bastille). I
went for a stroll in the park the morning after I arrived, but I
collapsed under a big tree at once--hadn't the energy to move.
Everything looked so hot and not a breath of air anywhere. The moat
looked glazed--so absolutely still under the bright summer sun--big
flies were buzzing and skimming over the surface, and the flowers and
plants wer